New Polaris Experience for United Airlines

A fifteen-year partnership, a completely reimagined cabin, and a new benchmark for premium travel across United’s entire fleet.

The Opportunity

For almost fifteen years, United Airlines has entrusted PriestmanGoode with expressing its values through the passenger experience. Working closely with United’s internal teams, across both live programmes and future-facing research, PG has helped the airline remain at the forefront across its extensive global network.

When United’s leadership team sought to explore the products, processes and technologies at the cutting edge of the industry, they briefed PG to deliver a unique future cabin experience, one that would investigate exciting new materials and redefine the benchmark of the passenger journey. Validated by United’s customer experience and research teams, this deep exploration of the airline’s DNA became the foundation for our partnership.

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The Solution

Polaris Business Class

Tasked with maximising passenger features whilst respecting the architecture of the base seat, PG crafted a beautifully bespoke product achievable within the pressures of aircraft delivery. The focus throughout was on tactility and comfort; soft, natural materials placed at every key touchpoint, creating clear delineation between functional zones.

The living space of the seat was opened up and refined: a cleverly floating lamp reveals an Ultrasuede-lined amenity cubby, while the same material wraps the passenger to create an atmosphere that is at once luxurious and cosseting. Adjacent furniture was optimised to include generous cocktail surfaces in real stone, well-positioned power outlets, inductive charging, and a bespoke digital seat control screen, familiar Polaris comforts, thoughtfully elevated.

An abstraction of the United Globe is embroidered into the seat fabric for brand resonance. PG’s CMF experts wove a unique fade design into the textile, transitioning from darker tones at lower levels to brighter, warmer shades near the cabin ceiling, a theme of warmth that runs throughout the entire redesigned interior. Jewel-like pops of United blue punctuate key touchpoints, while sliding suite doors boast a complex geometric surface pattern abstracted from the Polaris star itself, adding both texture and structural strength.

Polaris Studio Suites

Eight United Polaris Studio suites offer 25% more space, with the front rows of each cabin conceived as a range of distinct experiences. From spacious individual retreats to open co-travelling seats that transition into a generous double bed. The suites are elevated in material quality, incorporating 27″ monitors set behind large Quartzite table surfaces, and wall-mounted lamps synchronised to the seat control screen for a boutique, hotel-like atmosphere.

Elegantly contoured Nomex fabrics soften the space, providing a beautiful surface for custom wash lighting whilst improving the acoustic environment. A secondary seating area in front of each passenger provides further flexibility for socialising or working. From spacious individual retreats to a generous double bed, these exclusive spaces elevate the material experience above anything previously found in the cabin.

Sustainability is central: many materials are recycled and designed to be recyclable at end of life, and components are engineered for easy removal and reconstitution into new parts.

Cabin & Brand Panels

The opportunity to refresh the entire cabin allowed the team to consider the onboard experience holistically, from carpets to overhead bins, Business Class to Economy. New digital print techniques enabled a decorative laminate that fades from darker tones at floor level to warmer, brighter shades at the ceiling, embedding an abstraction of the hemisphere arc design throughout. This palette shifts beautifully as both cabin and natural light evolve across a journey.

For the first time on a United Dreamliner, we introduced full-width brand panels featuring an abstracted Polaris motif. These textured surfaces capture shifting light through every phase of flight, echoing the geometric language of the Polaris suite doors to create a seamless, cohesive interior.

United Premium Plus & Economy

United’s ambition to inspire the world to move thoughtfully, extended to a radical rethinking of the economy seat dress cover. A new material and construction process has removed half a kilogram per seat, while introducing a ‘leather-feel’ outer surface manufactured from recycled and recyclable materials. Improved colour reproduction unlocks more vibrant blues and durable warm greys. A brighter, more energised cabin experience aligned with the refreshed United brand.

For United Premium Plus, PG conducted its first complete redesign of the UPP seat, delivering a wider seat with optimised stowage, integrated console lighting, a natural Quartzite stone cocktail surface, a new 16″ screen, and inductive charging. Ultrasuede soft-touch surfaces and a bespoke Schott reading light, carried over from the Polaris cabin, give Premium Plus passengers a sense of premium that transcends its cabin class.

Dishware, Linens & Bar

United’s new brand identity prompted a complete refresh of the premium dining experience. Following extensive research across executive, operational and provisioning stakeholders, PG developed a range of dishware with a regular-sided form that enables reliable, elegant stacking across fare classes and service phases. White linen and white dishware place the food at the centre; fluted, subtly geometric glassware and ergonomically refined cutlery complete the offer. A stacking salt, pepper and chilli flakes shaker mirror the language of the language of the glassware and optimise tray space.

A new self-service snack bar carved out within the Polaris cabin provides a branded, walk-up welcome area that opens to reveal a real stone-lined display illuminated with warm LED lighting. Exterior doors carry a double-swoop pattern abstracted from the arc of the United globe, an intricate detail that ties the service space back to the airline’s own identity.